Track-sanding device.



M. A. BROWN. TRACK SANDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.26,1909.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

351mm 7724mm; 72/2 97? Z076 .2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Guam

mnaiwt B mmlm co. PHOYWLIYNOGRAPMERS, wnsmnmmu, a c.

M. A. BROWN. TRACK SANDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1909.

a k m v m I m I 7 a, u n n I I I\ N 3 a k N u n 9 0 a w 4 W M Nabbot/mu,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Oct. 19,1909.

4 t ill/Ill!!! I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN A. BROWN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF THIRTY-FIVE ONE-HUNDREDTI-IS T0 ERNEST C. PAINE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

TRACK-SANDING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN A. BROWN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore City and State ofMaryland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Track-SandingDevices of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a track sanding device for electric cars, theobject of the invention being to provide a track sanding device ofsimple construction which is adapted to be effectually controlled todeposit a desired amount of sand on the track, and to keep the sand dryand loosened'up so that it may be easily and uniformly distributed.

With these and other objects in View, the invention consists of thefeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter fully described and claimed,reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a top plan view of the sanding mechanism arranged at one endof a car,

the frame and adjacent truck of the car appearing in dotted lines. Fig.2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same with the car body andtruck shown in full lines, the section being taken on a plane throughone of the hoppers. Fig. 3 is a central vertical longitudinal section.Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the sand and air feed valves. Fig.5 is a horizontal section through the air feed valve. Fig. 6 is asectional side elevation of the bell crank operating lever.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown the invention applied to oneend of a car, but it will be understood that the mechanism may beduplicated at the opposite end of the car.

Arranged at each side of the body of the car is a sand receiving hopper1 provided in its upper portion with a removable screen 2, by which thesand is sifted as the hopper is filled to separate the pebbles and othercoarse particles from the fine sand. Upon the rear of the hopper may bemounted an electrical heater 3 whose terminals 4: and 5 are designed tobe connected with the motor circuit of the car, by which a supply ofcurrent may be fed to the heater for the purpose of preventing freezingof the sand in cold weather and also driving out any moisture that maybe contained therein.

The bottom of the hopper is in open communication with an opening orpassage 6 in the floor of the car, below which opening is arranged avalve casing 7. This casing is preferably composed of upper and lowersemicylindrical sections 8 and 9, pivotally connected at one side, as at10, the meeting ends of the sections being formed at the opposite sideof the casing with lugs 11 having openings for the passage of a bolt 12fitted with a clamping nut 13, by which the sections of the casing maybe clamped in closed condition. The upper casing section is providedwith a tapered inlet 14 registering with the passage 6, while the lowersection of the casing is formed with a neck having a discharge opening15. A flexible discharge pipe or tube 16 is connected at its upper endto the neck by a suitable type of coupling 17 and extends downward to aposition immediately above the underlying track and is fastened to theadjacent side of the frame 18 of the front truck by a clip or bracket19. If from any cause the valve casing or the parts therein shouldbecome choked with sand it will be readily understood from the foregoingdescription that upon releasing the casing section 9, the latter may beswung downward to permit ac cess to be obtained to the casing forremedying the difliculty.

Arranged within the casing 7 is a valve 20 for controlling the dischargeof sand, which valve comprises a disk mounted to tilt in one directionand limited in its reverse tilting movement by a stop 21 which itengages when in closed position. The valve is carried by and integralwith a hollow actuating shaft 22 which extends across the car beneaththe floor thereof and is similarly connected with the controlling valveof the opposite hopper. The said shaft is journaled in suitable bearings23 and is provided with a central angular or non-circular portion 24:and hollow circular end portions 25-. Each end portion 25 is formed withan air feed passage 26 having an inlet 27 and anoutlet 28, the latteropening through the bottom of the valve 20, as shown. The outerextremity of the portion 25, which forms an air feed valve having theport or inlet 27 is mounted to turn in a casing 29 provided at its endswith stuffing boxes 30 to prevent leakage.

The casings 29 of the two valve sections 25 of the shaft are formed withthreaded inlets 31 coupled to the forward ends of air supply pipes 32fixed by suitable brackets 33 to the under side of the car body andconnected at their rear ends by a union pipe 34, which is in turnconnected by a main air supply pipe with the air reservoir 36 of thebrake mechanism of the car. Inthe pipe may be arranged a reducing valve37 to reduce the pressure of the air to the extent desired on itspassage from the reservoir to tie feed valves.

To the angular central portion 24 of the shaft 22 is attached a crank orrocker arm 38, which is pivotally coupled by a connecting rod 39 withthe short arm 40 of a bell crank actuating lever 41 pivotally supportedby a bracket 42 secured to the under side of the platform of the caradjacent to the dash. The long arm 43 of said lever is provided with asocketed or chambered extremity 44 in which is arranged a series of antifriction balls or rollers 45, said extremity being, in the normalarrangement of the parts when the valves are closed, arranged at an upand rearward angle to the horizontal. A vertically depressible pin 46 ismovable in an opening in the car platform with its lower end engagingthe anti-friction balls or rollers and its upper end provided with asuitable knob or head by which said pin may be conveniently depressed bythe motorman. Upon the depression of the pin the arm 43 of the bellcrank lever will be rocked downwardl'y and the arm 40 thereof forwardly,thereby drawing on the rod 39 to shift the crank arm 38 forwardly, bywhich the shaft 22 will be turned rearwardly a quarter revolutionagainst the resistance of a coil spring 47, connected with said rockerarm and a bracket 48 fixed to the car, which spring serves to hold theparts in normal position in which the valves are closed, and to returnsuch parts to such position after actuation. As the pin 46 moves up anddown upon depression and return to normal position, it slides in contactwith the anti-friction balls or rollers 45, thus insuring easy motion ofthe actuating lever 41.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that when themotorman depresses the operating pin and actuates the bell crank leverin the manner described, the shaft 22 will beturned to open both sanddischarge valves 20 and to simultaneously move the associated air feedvalves 25 to a position in which the ports 27 register with the air feedpipes 32, thus allowing a current of air to enter each valve chamber 7through the passage 26 and outlet 28 to loosen up and force the sandcontained in 'said casing to discharge to and through the pipe 16. Theblast of air thus introduced will not only loosen up and free any sandwhich may have become compacted in the valve chamber, but

will also pass upward from the valve chamher into the hopper and loosenup the sand in the inlet 14 and also within the body of the hopper. Bythus injecting a blast of air into the dischar e valve casing and hoppereach time the discharge valve is opened, the sand will be maintained ina loose condition and caused to freely discharge each and every time thevalve is opened. Hence the sand will be prevented from packing in thehopper and valve chamber to such a degree as to interfere with the valvein its movements or choke in the hopper or valve chamber so that itcannot freely dischar e when the valve is actuated. The sand Wlllaccordingly be kept in a loose and fine condition, thus insuring itsdischarge in proper quantity to the rails when the mechanism is operatedby the motorman. It will, of course, be understood that the air feedvalve sections 25 of the shaft may be integral with the center of theshaft and the sand discharge valves, or that said parts may be madeindependent of one another and snitably connected together.

Having thus fully described the invention. what is claimed as new, is:-

1. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a discharge valve casingcommunicating therewith, a discharge valve arranged in said casing, ahollow shaft carrying the discharge valve and forming an air feed valvemovable with said discharge valve and having a discharge passagecommunicating through said discharge valve with the valve casing, andmeans for simultaneously actuating said valve for the discharge of sandand the inlet of a blast of air.

2. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a discharge valve casingcomnmnicating therewith, a discharge valve arranged within the casing, ahollow shaft carrying the discharge valve and forming an air feed valvemovable with said discharge valve and havin a feed passage openingthrough the latter into the casing, and means for turning said shaft forsimultaneously operating said valves.

3. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a valve casing communicatingtherewith, a

rotary discharge valve disposed within said casing, a hollow shaftconnected with said discharge valve and forming an air feed valve, saidshaft being provided with a feed passage extending into and through saiddischarge valve, and means for rocking said shaft for a simultaneousoperation of the valves.

4. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a discharge valve casingcommunicating therewith, an air feed pipe, an air feed valve casingcommunicating therewith, a discharge valve arranged within the dischargevalve casing and provided with an air feed passage, a shaft having ahollow valve member connected therewith and with the discharge valve andprovided with a passage communicating with the passage of the latter,said valve member being mounted in said .air feed valve casing, andmeans for rocking said shaft to actuate said valve.

5. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a discharge valve casingcommunicating therewith, a rotary valve mounted in said casing andprovided with an air feed passage, an air feed pipe, an air valve casingcommunicating therewith, a rock shaft having a hollow valve membermounted in said casing and connected with the discharge valve, means forturning said shaft in one direction to actuate said valve, and means forautomatically turning said shaft in the reverse direction to close saidvalves.

6. A track sanding device comprising a hopper, a valve casing comprisinghinged upper and lower sections, the upper section communicating withthe hopper, means for holding the sections connected, a discharge pipeconnected with the lower section, a valve in said casing, and means foroperating the same.

'7. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a valve casing, a dischargevalve carried by said casing, a hollow shaft carrying the valve andforming an air feed valve communieating with the casing, and means forturning said shaft to operate both valves in unison.

8. In a track sanding device, the combination of hoppers, valve casingscommunicating therewith, dischar e valves in said casings, an operatingshaft, air feed valves connected with the shaft and discharge valves andcommunicating with the valve casings, means for supplying air to saidfeed valves, and means for operating the shaft to actuate the valves inunison.

9. In a track sanding device, a hopper, a sanding discharge and air feedvalve associated therewith, a rock shaft for operating the valve, a bellcrank lever having a chambered portion, anti-friction bearings in saidchambered portion, an operating connection between the shaft and lever,and a sliding pin engaging said anti-friction bearings, whereby motionmay be imparted to the bell crank lever.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARTIN A. BROWN.

Witnesses:

ERNEST (J. PAINE, H. HOPKINS HOUSTON.

